Lost power, temp drop to 96*

[Ridgerunner]

I've never built a homemade incubator but I've read on here that position of the thermostat is very important. It needs to be pretty close to the heating element to prevent big temperature swings.

I don't believe that stuff about a constant slow turner for a minute. If you want to do one that turns a certain number of times a day instead of the slow movement of the commercial ones, that will work great too. But do it because you want to, not because there is anything wrong with the constant turning. For others that are reading this thread, do not freak out and panic if you use the constant turners. They work fine.

You can cool down if you want. The core temperature of the egg won't change in that time period so it won't do any harm. The reason a hen leaves her nest is to eat, drink, and poo so she can stay alive. In hot weather she may stay off for an hour or more. In cold weather she is off much less. The eggs can handle a cooldown easily as long as it is not for too long. As far as I am concerned, that cooldown period is an advertising gimmick, not a requirement for better hatches.

You'll find that we do a lot of different things during incubation and all throughout keeping chickens. A lot of the things I see on this forum are not required. My chickens do fine without me doing those things. They generally don't do any harm and they make the person doing them feel better so there is no reason to not do them. But if you don't do them and your chickens are doing OK, don't freak out or think you have to do those thngs.

 

[RWise]

I've never built a homemade incubator but I've read on here that position of the thermostat is very important. It needs to be pretty close to the heating element to prevent big temperature swings.

I don't believe that stuff about a constant slow turner for a minute. If you want to do one that turns a certain number of times a day instead of the slow movement of the commercial ones, that will work great too. But do it because you want to, not because there is anything wrong with the constant turning. For others that are reading this thread, do not freak out and panic if you use the constant turners. They work fine.

You can cool down if you want. The core temperature of the egg won't change in that time period so it won't do any harm. The reason a hen leaves her nest is to eat, drink, and poo so she can stay alive. In hot weather she may stay off for an hour or more. In cold weather she is off much less. The eggs can handle a cooldown easily as long as it is not for too long. As far as I am concerned, that cooldown period is an advertising gimmick, not a requirement for better hatches.

Did not see the adds, but I was not looking either,,, I have watched hens

You'll find that we do a lot of different things during incubation and all throughout keeping chickens. A lot of the things I see on this forum are not required. My chickens do fine without me doing those things. They generally don't do any harm and they make the person doing them feel better so there is no reason to not do them. But if you don't do them and your chickens are doing OK, don't freak out or think you have to do those thngs.

At this point I dont now if I will use this unit again, (or an LG) if I do, the turner will be modified to hold the eggs on their side. I am sure I made my share of mistakes, we all do I may just sale it. (someone else may be happy with it) Humidity was also an issue, ran on the high side, if I use this unit again I would also look to see which water tray holds less, 1 or 2, and see if I can use tray 2 to get the humidity lower the first part.
If I toss out the eggs that were not fertile I got about a 50% hatch rate (with help) and I suppose thats not to bad, but I think it could have been better.
I bought it to save time and get some chicks fast. It did that. (15 hatched and doing good) I did not want to take the time to build test and debug a homebrewbator. I have more time now as the next time I want to set eggs is spring (late Feb). I have seen issues that I want address with a homebrewbator, it will not be hard to match or exceed the quality/working/usability of a hovabator or LG.
Cleaning the hovabator or LG is a problem as the foam used is a very low grade and absorbs moisture. So bacteria and other bad stuff can get into the open cells of the foam. Closed cell foam would be an improvement here! (without a large cost increase) Nothing would ever soak into the foam!
IMHO it did what it was supposed to do, it sold! It's life is now over,,,,
IMHO If you have time, (and ability) build your own! Its cheaper and more likely to make you happy.

I do not wish to argue with anyone on this, these are my opinions of this unit, others have theirs and that is perfect! IF I had read more of the reasons that I dont like this thing I may not have bought it. IMHO everyone should post their likes and dislikes of these units (maybe its own thread) so others can see the real unit and not just the selling points.

Happy new year to all!

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Personally I love the Hova-bator. With 41 eggs your temperature must have been very steady, I do smaller hatches so add rocks as a heat sink to stabilize temp.

To aid in keeping your humidity in check you can use aluminum or plastic wrap to cover a percentage of the tray your using (1 or 2). As it's exposed surface area that effects humidity you can get it exactly where you want it that way. I use a humidifier in our house in winter and keep it in same room as the incubator. With the environment having stable humidity the incubator's humidity will be steady once you figure surface area of water to use inside it.

My best hatch rates were using a dryer incubation of 35% for first 18 days then up to 55% last three days. I shoot for 55% because once they start to pip and zip the humidity can shoot right to 65% no problem. I'll even open lid quickly to expel moisture trying to keep it at 60%. We hatch 85% of all eggs originally set using the Hova-bator with fan. Of course that's hatching my own eggs, I don't believe anyone can fine tune their hatching methods with shipped eggs as there are far to many variables with shipping.

 

[RWise]

Personally I love the Hova-bator. With 41 eggs your temperature must have been very steady, I do smaller hatches so add rocks as a heat sink to stabilize temp.

To aid in keeping your humidity in check you can use aluminum or plastic wrap to cover a percentage of the tray your using (1 or 2). As it's exposed surface area that effects humidity you can get it exactly where you want it that way. I use a humidifier in our house in winter and keep it in same room as the incubator. With the environment having stable humidity the incubator's humidity will be steady once you figure surface area of water to use inside it.

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I like this idea, did you cover a solid area (%) or patches to keep things even? (I do have the fan also which should even things up) This is something I want to control without opening on a homebrew and could be done easily.
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My best hatch rates were using a dryer incubation of 35% for first 18 days then up to 55% last three days. I shoot for 55% because once they start to pip and zip the humidity can shoot right to 65% no problem. I'll even open lid quickly to expel moisture trying to keep it at 60%. We hatch 85% of all eggs originally set using the Hova-bator with fan. Of course that's hatching my own eggs, I don't believe anyone can fine tune their hatching methods with shipped eggs as there are far to many variables with shipping.

Thanx

 

[Egghead_Jr]

You cover a solid area, try half the tray and see where humidity sticks at then adjust from there. It's best to know what it takes to get humidity where you want it before you put eggs in. Because I don't fill incubator with eggs I have space to use a short glass of water on the screen. Ranging surface area of glasses from shot to tumbler I know which I'm going to use for first 18 days to keep 30-35% and I have the lower small reservoir already covered to amount that when filled will give me 55%. So for me what works is a certain small glass then take it out last 3 days and fill the small tray in bottom as it's already covered the amount to have the right humidity.

I think that makes sense. The important thing is your already keeping stable environment of humidity incubator is in so once you play around finding what to use/how much to cover which tray for each humidity mark your shooting for then humidity is a no brainer when eggs go in.

 

[RWise]

IF I try this unit again, I will try covering 30% and see where it lands. (may do it just to test it to see what it takes even if I dont use the unit again) Here in Oklahoma humidity varies a lot, 10% - 100%, I keep a water pan on the wood stove and evaporate about 2 gallons of water a day, also have house plants (no plastic here) that go through a gallon each of water, more of an indoor garden. Anyway the humidity was at 50-55% in the room, without the water on the stove its dry!

Temp was stable until the turner was removed, dropped 2* and I bumped it back up after several hours. Then when the chicks started hatching the temp went up about 1*. Another thought is to not adjust the temp at this point, let it drop the 2* and just leave it alone. (I was at 100* as I read somewhere that half a degree high encourages pullets to develop over roo's) Then when the chicks start to hatch it should come up about 1* and everything still be in range, taking notes,,,,


Edit: I am also a bit of a perfectionist,,,, so maybe I expect to much from it,,,,

 

[Ridgerunner]

My humidity in my 1588 Hovabator incubator varies a lot due to background humidity. Sometimes I can have 35% with no water in the trays. Water in just one tray will get it above 55%. Sometimes I need water in two trays to get it above 40%. I don’t try to keep the humidity at one certain specific humidity but try to average somewhere around 40% to 45% during incubation. It’s a seat of the pants thing. If water in a tray puts it too high, I wait a few days to put more water in when that tray runs dry.

What you are shooting for is a certain moisture loss in the egg over incubation. Instantaneous humidity is not nearly as important as average humidity.

During lockdown I add water to two trays. I want to get at least 65% but if it goes higher, I’m OK with that. It works out OK for me. As you can tell, others do it differently.

That thing about incubating temperature affecting sex is an old wives tale. The sex of the chick is determined by genetics. The hen determines the sex of the chick when she contributes her DNA, even before the sperm from the rooster gets involved.

 

[RWise]

That thing about incubating temperature affecting sex is an old wives tale. The sex of the chick is determined by genetics. The hen determines the sex of the chick when she contributes her DNA, even before the sperm from the rooster gets involved.

The temp cannot change the sex, that has been determined before the egg was layed, it is not to try and change the sex of the chick, but to give one sex a better chance of survival to the hatching point. I dont know if it works, and I have read both ways, (conflicting info) lower temps = more pullets hatched, and higher temps = more pullets hatched,,, IDK!! But I do know that the sex cannot be changed, that is fixed! My best guess at this point is I have about 50/50 male/female ratio with an average 1/2 a degree high, at least 6 (that developed) did not make it to hatch. Maybe the only thing it did was hatch a bit sooner, again IDK! But if I am going to be the Hen, this IS something I want to know!!! LOL

 

[SilkieSensation]

From what I have seen, if conditions run perfect you get aprox 50/50. If conditions are off by much at all you get more roos since they are the heartier babies. You also tend to lose pullets to poor brooder conditions more quickly than the roos as well. Keeping conditions "perfect" is nearly impossible. Chances are you will end up with more roos 90% of the time.

 

[RWise]

I can say in my finding, (NOTE I do not consider 1 hatch to be scientific), that running .5* (F) higher only shortened the incubation time by a few hours. For instance, day 18 lockdown, day 19 pips and some zips, day 20 help chicks out, more pips and zips and some hatched, day 21 anything not hatched, hatched or was helped out, day 22 every thing cleaned and put away. And I can ID 6 that are boys out of 15, but some I will have to wait on as their are 2 daddies and 4 hens form my stock (and another hen and roo from my sis) with different combs. Very close to 50/50 male/female!